Here is the eighth of a 10-part series breaking down the Jacksonville Jaguars' free-agency needs, position by position:
Linebacker
Who is on the roster: Khairi Fortt, Jeremiah George, John Lotulelei, Paul Posluszny, LaRoy Reynolds, and Telvin Smith.
Players scheduled to become free agents on March 10: A.J. Edds, Geno Hayes, and J.T. Thomas.
Analysis: As you can see, this isn't exactly a dynamic position going forward for the Jaguars. In fact, outside of Posluszny and Smith the group is pretty pedestrian. Thomas is a versatile player who played all three spots and started the final eight games in the middle in place of Posluszny (torn pectoral). He is a player the Jaguars have expressed interest in bringing back but if a deal isn't done by Tuesday he'll be free to negotiate with other teams. Fortt and George were rookies in 2014 and played sparingly, Lotulelei spent the season on IR, Edds was a fourth-year player who was claimed off waivers in October and played in two games, and Reynolds floundered on defense and is more of a special teams player. Hayes (51 tackles) likely won't be brought back. Posluszny, though, is the heart and leader of the defense. He's not very good in pass coverage but he's a tackling machine (653 in 54 games with the Jaguars; 12.1 per game). He also was a good influence on Smith, who ended up as the Jaguars' second-leading tackler (99) and added two sacks, one interception, four pass breakups, nine tackles for loss (second on the team), a forced fumble, and two fumble recoveries. He's undersized (218 pounds) but makes up for it with his speed and athleticism. At the beginning of his rookie season he wasn't always in the right spot but he got to wherever he was quickly. As he became more comfortable in the defense he became more of a playmaker: He made 63 tackles and forced two fumbles in the final six games. He helps two of the defense's biggest weaknesses: a lack of speed and a lack of big plays. He accounted for 10 of the defense's big plays (sacks, pass breakups, forced fumbles, fumble recoveries). The rest of the linebackers combined for 17.
NFL free agents of interest: The Jaguars will try to upgrade their speed in free agency and the draft. It's not a particularly great crop of free-agent outside linebackers but names to watch include Malcolm Smith, Brandon Graham, and Brian Orakpo, though he may cost more than the Jaguars want to spend. Names to watch at inside linebacker include Mason Foster and Josh Mauga.
